Monthly Tech-Tip | No tracking! No ads! |
The ideal drying chamber is a tunnel. Typical tunnels pass wheeled-ware-carts single file. Hot dry air enters where the ware exits. The moving air touches all surfaces and picks up humidity as it moves toward the entrance. The tunnel must be calibrated so that air reaching the entrance, is still very warm and laden with water it got from ware down the tunnel. When an equal volume of ware is passing constantly, manual calibration of cart movement, air volume and temperature is possible. But if flow is not constant multi-location monitoring and intervention is needed. ESP8266/ESP32 controllers are revolutionizing industrial control. As cheap as $5, these tiny battery-powered WIFI servers can display a web page, email or text you and communicate with an online dashboard to relay measurements. And they can respond to commands and actuate relays to control blowers, heaters and vents. Hiring a technician on Upwork.com to design a system is only a matter of a few thousand (even hundreds) of dollars. Shown here is an Amazon listing for a development kit of an 8266, sensor and cables (the humidity/temperature sensors are the key element, search for them specifically on Amazon). Shown also is a listing for a ready-made one, dozens of these will be found for the search "esp32 humidity temperature sensor controller". Greenhouse automation uses this same technology.
Articles |
Drying Ceramics Without Cracks
Anything ceramic ware can be dried if it is done slowly and evenly enough. To dry faster optimize the body recipe, ware cross section, drying process and develop a good test to rate drying performance. |
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Glossary |
Drying Performance
In ceramics, drying performance is very important to optimizing production. More plastic clays shrink more and crack more, but they are also better to work with. |
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